Mark Terry

Monday, October 04, 2010

Sometimes I feel like quitting...

October 4, 2010
Today's not that day, by the way. But I think long-time readers of this blog (both of you!) realize that I go through moods where fiction writing is concerned where I wonder why I'm bothering. It's not the money. It's not fame, such as it is (don't have it and don't want it).

A friend of mine commented to me yesterday that things like writing novels must be "a labor of love."

I suppose so. I know there's an addictive quality to writing fiction. I like being the first person to "know" this particular story. I'm exploring ideas and events that are important and/or of interest to me. I suppose I "have something to say." Or there's some level of communication going on, sharing my stories with other ideas.

And I would point out that although I go through funks about writing fiction, I've been writing it something like 25 years now and there's no real sign I'm going to quit. Maybe "do as I do, not as I say" is right. Or, "do as I do, not as I feel."

Because when it comes down to it, I haven't quit yet.

4 Comments:

Blogger Todd said...

Mark, I feel you on the "not feeling like writing." Sometimes I go through periods where I feel like there's no real point to doing all this. No one reads what I write, no one cares to talk about the craft (at least no one in my circle of friends that I talk to every day), no one is interested in books like I am...

I'll admit that sometimes I even quit writing for a month or so just because I need to restart, recharge, whatever you might call it. A friend says that sometimes I need to hook up to the Rejuvination Machine occasionally.

Keep your head up. And I'm proud to be one of the two people who read you regularly.

6:32 AM  
Blogger Spy Scribbler said...

There are days when I'd like a nice, physical job, where I don't have to wrestle against my attention span. I fantasize often, but the pay sucks. Also, I dream of paychecks that arrive regularly, of just having to do a job and not having to develop a business.

But given I've only managed a real day job for about six months, I apparently like just indulging in the fantasy. :-)

10:55 AM  
Blogger Travis Erwin said...

There are times I wonder if I should quit and stop fooling myself, but I never actually feel like quitting.

11:09 AM  
Anonymous Eric Mayer said...

I've been on the verge of quitting since I was 20!

4:15 PM  

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